In response to the accusations of Patricia Pulling (among others) who felt that the "occult" elements of Dungeons & Dragons were driving people to suicide, Stackpole began to defend the game and the roleplaying game community.[2]:22 Stackpole published one of his first articles about the media misinformation in Sorcerer's Apprentice #14 (Spring 1982) in an article called "Devil Games? Nonsense!",[2]:38 and even debated the Western Regional Director of Pulling's BADD organization on the radio on July 14, 1987.[2]:22 He compared BADD's statistics of suicides among roleplayers to the general rate of teen suicide and found the number of roleplayers committing suicide was actually lower than those who were not gamers, and published his argument in an article called "The Truth about Role-Playing Games" in the 1989 book Satanism in America; he also published the document "The Pulling Report" in 1990, which further discredited Pulling's stand against roleplaying games.[2]:22

In 1986 Stackpole wrote his first novel, the fantasy story Talion: Revenant. His editors believed that a 175,000 word book was too long for an unknown author and that the story wasn't particularly engaging. The story remained unpublished for the next 11 years until reworked by Stackpole's editor, Anne Lesley Groell. Stackpole clarifies these issues himself in the afterword of the published version of Talion. The manuscript was published in 1997 by Bantam Books.

Stackpole's first published novels were the Warrior trilogy for the BattleTech universe, published by FASA in 1988-1989.[2]:122 His "Blood of Kerensky" trilogy (1989-1991) were the last novels published directly by FASA; the BattleTech cartoon (1994) was set during the events of this trilogy.[2]:124 Stackpole also wrote a trilogy of novels published in 1992, which were based on the Dark Conspiracy roleplaying game by GDW.[2]:60

Stackpole has found his greatest success in serial works that continue the characters and plot lines developed by other authors. In 1987 he began writing novels set in the BattleTech universe for FASA Corporation, some of which were used as the source for a television animated series. He was then selected to write several novels in the Star Wars universe for Bantam Books. He also wrote several comics based in the Star Wars universe for Dark Horse Comics. Initially these covered the period just before his X-Wing novels. Later, he also covered the marriage of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade in the graphic novel Union and collaborated with Timothy Zahn on Mara Jade's early career. In the foreword to his book Outbound Flight, Timothy Zahn thanks Stackpole and issues a challenge at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.

In addition, he has written several novels and short stories with original settings. One series is the DragonCrown War Cycle. These books attempted to break fantasy conventions in order to stir reader interest, including the introduction of firearms in a fantasy setting. Reception of these books was fairly positive based on Amazon reviews, but reviews elsewhere were not as good.[4]

The Age of Discovery trilogy is his latest complete series, with A New World released mid-2007. The trilogy is set in a fantasy world, with an attempt at an unconventional approach to magic and mastery.

The Crown Colonies is a trilogy that re-imagines the events of the American Revolutionary War. The first book, At The Queen's Command, was released in November 2010.

At New York Comic Con 2012, it was revealed that Blizzard Entertainment had approached Stackpole to write the next novel in their series based on the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The novel, titled Vol’jin: Shadows of the Horde, centres around the chieftain of the Darkspear Trolls as his loyalty to the Horde is put to the ultimate test after an assassination attempt on his life. The novel was released in July 2013.

Stackpole also writes and publishes an onlinenewsletter titled The Secrets, which offers tips, tricks, and tidbits about fiction writing (focusing on, but not limited to, science fiction and fantasy). It is aimed towards the serious fan fiction writer and some casual writers, and includes information about getting books published..

Topics discussed in the newsletter range from how to beat writer's block to how to build a world, and even how to manage writing as a career.

The Secrets newsletter requires a subscription, and issues are released every two weeks.

The Secrets Newsletter has an "audio companion" in The Secrets Podcast. The first ten podcasts were based on material from the first ten issues of The Secrets newsletter. After the first series ended, the content of the podcast diverged from the newsletter. The podcasts average twenty-five minutes long and are voiced and produced by Stackpole.

The podcasts are free and require no subscription, but older episodes have been retired and are no longer available on the main archive.

Stackpole is also one of the main hosts on The Dragon Page Cover to Cover, a book review and interview show dealing mainly with fantasy and sci fi publications, together with Michael R. Mennenga.

The BattleTech novels were originally published by FASA Corporation up until 1991. In that year, Penguin Group/Roc Books took over the line and also reprinted the earlier novels. The last print novel of the classic BattleTech setting was published in 2002; in the same year, the first novel for the Dark Age setting (set some 100 years after the classic setting) was published, written by Stackpole. His novels were typically "spine novels" that moved the setting ahead, narrating large-scale or otherwise important events with far-reaching consequences in the fictional timeline.

1.
Phoenix Comicon
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Phoenix Comicon is a multigenre entertainment and comic book convention held annually in Phoenix, Arizona. It was founded as the Phoenix Cactus Comicon in June 2002, PCC plays host to comic related panels, programming events, art contests, and autograph signings for all ages. It is an event held during the summer at the Phoenix Convention Center in downtown Phoenix. On Thursday evening prior to the opening of the event, there is a preview for professionals, exhibitors. In 2016, the set a attendance record of 106,096. Phoenix Comicon has also begun to expand programming into the hotels, including the Hyatt Regency, Marriott Renaissance. It was re-branded as Phoenix Fan Fest and moved to October in 2016 at the Phoenix Convention Center, the first Phoenix Comicon was held in June 2002 as Phoenix Cactus Comicon. It was a convention for six hours held at a Best Western in Ahwatukee. Admission was $3 per person and there were 432 attendees, along with a few local creators and exhibitors, the following three years, the convention was held at the Glendale Civic Center. The size of the convention and the attendance were doubled from the year. The convention began to bring out some guests from out of state including Spider-Man artist Todd Nauck, the programming was increased to include Q&As with guests, how-to workshops, and film trailer presentations. In 2006, the convention was held at the Mesa Convention Center in Mesa and it also became a two-day convention, with Friday preview night, and had guests such as voice actors Johnny Young Bosche and Greg Ayres. The exhibitor room was expanded, as was the amount of programming offered. This was the first convention to expand beyond comic books into the pop culture community, including Anime, Manga, Sci-Fi, Fantasy. Attendance was over 2,600 people for the weekend, the convention was held in January from 2007 to 2009, at the Mesa Convention Center. 2007 was considered the conventions first foray into media guests, with Feedback, in 2009, the event was expanded to 3 days, with a Thursday preview night. Beginning in 2010 the convention was held on Memorial Day weekend, at the Phoenix Convention Center and this change was due to the large increase in attendance, and the availability of funds to hold the convention in a larger venue. Bigger names, such as Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, in 2014, due to a scheduling conflict, the convention was moved to the first week of June as opposed to Memorial Day weekend

2.
Wausau, Wisconsin
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Wausau is a city in and the county seat of Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The Wisconsin River divides the city into east and west, the city is adjacent to the Town of Wausau. As of the 2010 census, Wausau had a population of 39,106 and it is the core city of the Wausau Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Marathon County and had a population of 134,063 at the 2010 census. This area was occupied for thousands of years by succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples, the historic Ojibwe occupied it in the period of European encounter. They had a fur trade for decades with French colonists. After the French and Indian War this trade was dominated by British-American trappers from the eastern seaboard and this provided a route for products from the region to the large New York and other eastern markets. The area had been called Big Bull Flats or Big Bull Falls by French explorers and they named it for the long rapids in the river, which created many bubbles, called bulle in French. By an 1836 treaty with the United States, the Ojibwe ceded much of their lands in the area to federal ownership and it was sold to non-Native peoples. Wausau means a place or a place which can be seen from far away in the Ojibwe language. George Stevens, the namesake for the city of Stevens Point located south of Wausau, began harvesting the pine forests for lumber in 1840, lumbering was the first major industry in this area, and other sawmills along the Wisconsin River were quickly constructed by entrepreneurs. By 1846, Walter McIndoe arrived and took the lead in the local business and his efforts helped to establish Marathon County in 1850. Word of Stevens success in the region spread across the country throughout the logging industry. Loggers came from Cortland County, New York, Carroll County, New Hampshire, Orange County, Vermont and Down East Maine in what is now Washington County, Maine and Hancock County, Maine. These were Yankee migrants, that is to say they were descended from the English Puritans who had settled New England during the 1600s, by 1852, Wausau had been established as a town and continued to grow and mature. German immigration into the following the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states brought more people, and by 1861. Churches, schools, industry and social organizations began to flourish, the state granted the city a charter in 1872, and elections are held the first Tuesday in April. The residents elected A. Kickbusch as their first mayor in 1874, five years earlier, Kickbusch had returned to his homeland of Germany and brought back with him 702 people, all of whom are believed to have settled in the Wausau area. Kickbusch founded the A. Kickbusch Wholesale Grocery Company, a business carried on by his grandson

3.
Role-playing game
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A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. There are several forms of RPG, the original form, sometimes called the tabletop RPG, is conducted through discussion, whereas in live action role-playing games players physically perform their characters actions. In both of these forms, an arranger called a game master usually decides on the rules and setting to be used, acting as referee, while each of the other players plays the role of a single character. Several varieties of RPG also exist in media, such as multi-player text-based MUDs and their graphics-based successors. These games often share settings and rules with tabletop RPGs, despite this variety of forms, some game forms such as trading card games and wargames that are related to role-playing games may not be included. Role-playing activity may sometimes be present in games, but it is not the primary focus. The term is sometimes used to describe roleplay simulation games and exercises used in teaching, training. Both authors and major publishers of tabletop role-playing games consider them to be a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling, events, characters, and narrative structure give a sense of a narrative experience, and the game need not have a strongly-defined storyline. Interactivity is the difference between role-playing games and traditional fiction. Whereas a viewer of a show is a passive observer. Such role-playing games extend an older tradition of storytelling games where a party of friends collaborate to create a story. Participants in a game will generate specific characters and an ongoing plot. A consistent system of rules and a more or less realistic campaign setting in games aids suspension of disbelief, the level of realism in games ranges from just enough internal consistency to set up a believable story or credible challenge up to full-blown simulations of real-world processes. There is also a variety of systems of rules and game settings. Games that emphasize plot and character interaction over game mechanics and combat sometimes prefer the name storytelling game and these types of games tend to minimize or altogether eliminate the use of dice or other randomizing elements. Some games are played with characters created before the game by the GM and this type of game is typically played at gaming conventions, or in standalone games that do not form part of a campaign. Tabletop and pen-and-paper RPGs are conducted through discussion in a social gathering

4.
Video game
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A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word video in video game referred to a raster display device. Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial, the electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms, examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld computing devices, the input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, joysticks, mouse devices, keyboards, the touchscreens of mobile devices, and buttons, or even, with the Kinect sensor, a persons hands and body. Players typically view the game on a screen or television or computer monitor, or sometimes on virtual reality head-mounted display goggles. There are often game sound effects, music and, in the 2010s, some games in the 2000s include haptic, vibration-creating effects, force feedback peripherals and virtual reality headsets. In the 2010s, the game industry is of increasing commercial importance, with growth driven particularly by the emerging Asian markets and mobile games. As of 2015, video games generated sales of USD74 billion annually worldwide, early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a Cathode ray tube Amusement Device was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U. S. Written by MIT students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanens on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1961, and the hit ping pong-style Pong, used the DEC PDP-1s vector display to have two spaceships battle each other. In 1971, Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was the first commercially sold and it used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. The game was featured in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green, Computer Space was followed in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console. Modeled after a late 1960s prototype console developed by Ralph H. Baer called the Brown Box and these were followed by two versions of Ataris Pong, an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975 that dramatically increased video game popularity. The commercial success of Pong led numerous other companies to develop Pong clones and their own systems, the game inspired arcade machines to become prevalent in mainstream locations such as shopping malls, traditional storefronts, restaurants, and convenience stores. The game also became the subject of articles and stories on television and in newspapers and magazines. Space Invaders was soon licensed for the Atari VCS, becoming the first killer app, the term platform refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate. The term system is commonly used

5.
Fantasy
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Fantasy is a fiction genre set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Most fantasy uses magic or other elements as a main plot element, theme. Magic and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds, in popular culture, the fantasy genre is predominantly of the medievalist form. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy works by many writers, artists, filmmakers. Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other studies, cultural studies, comparative literature, history. The identifying trait of fantasy is the reliance on imagination to create narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from realistic fiction in that whereas realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, an author applies his or her imagination to come up with characters, plots, and settings that are impossible in reality. Fantasy has often compared with science fiction and horror because they are the major categories of speculative fiction. Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements, a science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seeming possible through logical scientific and/or technological extrapolation, whereas fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. The imagined elements of fantasy do not need an explanation to be narratively functional. Authors have to rely on the suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment. Despite both genres heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable, horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists. Beginning perhaps with the earliest written documents, mythic and other elements that would come to define fantasy. MacDonald was an influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, lord Dunsany established the genres popularity in both the novel and the short story form. Many popular mainstream authors also began to write fantasy at this time, including H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Indeed, juvenile fantasy was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, nathaniel Hawthorne wrote fantasy in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, intended for children, though works for adults only verged on fantasy. Political and social trends can affect a societys reception towards fantasy, in the early 20th century, the New Culture Movements enthusiasm for Westernization and science in China compelled them to condemn the fantastical shenmo genre of traditional Chinese literature

6.
Science fiction
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Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a literature of ideas. Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a range of subgenres and themes. Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying science fiction is what we point to when we say it, a definition echoed by author Mark C. Glassy, who argues that the definition of science fiction is like the definition of pornography, you do not know what it is, in 1970 or 1971William Atheling Jr. According to science fiction writer Robert A, rod Serlings definition is fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. Science fiction elements include, A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, a spatial setting or scenes in outer space, on other worlds, or on subterranean earth. Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots, futuristic or plausible technology such as ray guns, teleportation machines, and humanoid computers. Scientific principles that are new or that contradict accepted physical laws, for time travel, wormholes. New and different political or social systems, e. g. utopian, dystopian, post-scarcity, paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis Other universes or dimensions and travel between them. A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of science itself. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Keplers work the first science fiction story and it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earths motion is seen from there. Later, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon, more examples appeared throughout the 19th century. Wells The War of the Worlds describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry and it is a seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth. In the late 19th century, the scientific romance was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland, the term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon. In the early 20th century, pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories magazine. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars

7.
Novel
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A novel is any relatively long piece of written narrative fiction, normally in prose, and typically published as a book. The genre has also described as possessing, a continuous. This view sees the novels origins in Classical Greece and Rome, medieval, early modern romance, the latter, an Italian word used to describe short stories, supplied the present generic English term in the 18th century. The romance is a closely related long prose narrative, Romance, as defined here, should not be confused with the genre fiction love romance or romance novel. Other European languages do not distinguish between romance and novel, a novel is le roman, der Roman, il romanzo, a novel is a long, fictional narrative which describes intimate human experiences. Most European languages use the word romance for extended narratives, fictionality is most commonly cited as distinguishing novels from historiography. However this can be a problematic criterion, historians would also invent and compose speeches for didactic purposes. Novels can, on the hand, depict the social, political and personal realities of a place and period with clarity. Even in the 19th century, fictional narratives in verse, such as Lord Byrons Don Juan, Alexander Pushkins Yevgeniy Onegin, vikram Seths The Golden Gate, composed of 590 Onegin stanzas, is a more recent example of the verse novel. Both in 12th-century Japan and 15th-century Europe, prose fiction created intimate reading situations, on the other hand, verse epics, including the Odyssey and Aeneid, had been recited to a select audiences, though this was a more intimate experience than the performance of plays in theaters. A new world of Individualistic fashion, personal views, intimate feelings, secret anxieties, conduct and gallantry spread with novels, the novel is today the longest genre of narrative prose fiction, followed by the novella, short story, and flash fiction. However, in the 17th century critics saw the romance as of epic length, the length of a novel can still be important because most literary awards use length as a criterion in the ranking system. Urbanization and the spread of printed books in Song Dynasty China led to the evolution of oral storytelling into consciously fictional novels by the Ming dynasty, parallel European developments did not occur for centuries, and awaited the time when the availability of paper allowed for similar opportunities. By contrast, Ibn Tufails Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and Ibn al-Nafis Theologus Autodidactus are works of didactic philosophy, in this sense, Hayy ibn Yaqdhan would be considered an early example of a philosophical novel, while Theologus Autodidactus would be considered an early theological novel. Epic poetry exhibits some similarities with the novel, and the Western tradition of the novel back into the field of verse epics. Then at the beginning of the 18th century, French prose translations brought Homers works to a wider public, longus is the author of the famous Greek novel, Daphnis and Chloe. Romance or chivalric romance is a type of narrative in prose or verse popular in the circles of High Medieval. In later romances, particularly those of French origin, there is a tendency to emphasize themes of courtly love

8.
Star Wars
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Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of characters a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars and it was followed by the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005, which received mixed-to-negative reactions, a sequel trilogy began in 2015 with the release of Star Wars, The Force Awakens. All seven films were nominated for Academy Awards and have been successes, with a combined box office revenue of over $7.5 billion. Spin-off films include Star Wars, The Clone Wars and Rogue One, Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the Most successful film merchandising franchise. In 2015, the value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $42 billion. In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and earned the rights to all subsequent Star Wars films. Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, the events depicted in the Star Wars franchise take place in an unnamed fictional galaxy at an undetermined point in the distant past. Many species of creatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are built to serve their owners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a single galactic government. In the prequel trilogy, this is depicted in the form of the Galactic Republic, at the end of the trilogy and throughout the original trilogy. Preceding and during the trilogy, this government is the New Republic. One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the Force and it is described in the first produced film as an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together. While the Force can be used for good, known as the side, it also has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression. The sequel trilogy introduces the Knights of Ren, an order of practitioners of the side of the Force aligned with the First Order. The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25,1977 and this was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21,1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25,1983

9.
BattleTech
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BattleTech is a wargaming and military science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2000, and owned since 2003 by Topps. The visual design of the line of BattleMechs were taken from Macross and other anime. No official broke the silence until 2007, after FASA had sold the BattleTech intellectual property to WizKids Games, under license from them, the Classic BattleTech line developer for Fantasy Productions, Randall N. Bills explained that FASA had sued Playmates over the use of images owned by FASA, the BattleMechs taken from the various anime sources were then considered Unseen. When Fantasy Productions licensed the property, these Unseen images were expanded to include all art produced out-of-house – that is, whose copyrights resided with the creators, catalyst Game Labs has continued this practice. An update on 11 Aug.2009 has placed the unseen restriction on several designs once again and this update affects only the designs whose images originated from Macross. Designs whose images originated from other such as Dougram and Crusher Joe are unaffected by this change and are still no longer considered unseen. By August 2011, the images that were considered to be unseen were returned to unseen status due to continuing problems with license agreements. At its most basic, the game of BattleTech is played on a map composed of hexagonal terrain tiles. The combat units are roughly 30-foot-tall humanoid armored combat units called BattleMechs, powered by fusion reactors, the game is played in turns, each of which represents 10 seconds of real time, with each turn composed of multiple phases. FASA also published numerous sourcebooks, known as Technical Readouts, which featured specifications for new units that players could select from. The Succession Wars, a game released in 1987, is one of only two purely strategic titles of the series. The Succession Wars is played on a star map, with players trying to capture regions of space. Recent years have seen a trend of consolidating the expansions into core products for efficiency, tactical Operations supplements Total Warfare with rules for expanded game-play. These include an expanded weapons / equipment table listing, advanced unit types as well as numerous optional gameplay enhancements for planetary-level conquests, strategic Operations consolidates the rules for multi-game campaigns within a single star system with the remaining AeroTech 2 rules omitted from TW. These include the introduction of capital-level spacecraft and equipment, space warfare rules, a revised version of BattleForce is also consolidated into the book. TechManual consolidates the rules with technical fluff from various products for units compliant to Total Warfare rules. The size of the materials slated for the book forced its splitting into two volumes, the second, which known as the Campaign Companion, has was renamed

10.
Vermont
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Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders the other U. S. states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Lake Champlain forms half of Vermonts western border with the state of New York, Vermont is the 2nd-least populous of the U. S. states, with nearly 50,000 more residents than Wyoming. The capital is Montpelier, the least populous state capital in the U. S, the most populous municipality, Burlington, is the least populous city in the U. S. to be the most populous within a state. As of 2015, Vermont continued to be the producer of maple syrup in the U. S. It was ranked as the safest state in the country in January 2016, for thousands of years inhabited by indigenous peoples, including the Algonquian-speaking Abenaki and Mohawk, much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by Frances colony of New France. France ceded the territory to Great Britain after being defeated in 1763 in the Seven Years War, for many years, the nearby colonies, especially the provinces of New Hampshire and New York, disputed control of the area. Settlers who held land titles granted by New York were opposed by the Green Mountain Boys militia, ultimately, those settlers prevailed in creating an independent state, the Vermont Republic. Founded in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War, the republic lasted for 14 years, aside from the original 13 states that were formerly colonies, Vermont is one of only four U. S. states that were previously sovereign states. Vermont was also the first state to join the U. S. as its 14th member state after the original 13, while still an independent republic, Vermont was the first of any future U. S. state to partially abolish slavery. It played an important geographic role in the Underground Railroad, sights in Vermont Vermont is located in the New England region of the northeastern United States and comprises 9,614 square miles, making it the 45th-largest state. It is the state that does not have any buildings taller than 124 feet. Land comprises 9,250 square miles and water comprises 365 square miles, making it the 43rd-largest in land area, in total area, it is larger than El Salvador and smaller than Haiti. The west bank of the Connecticut River marks the eastern border with New Hampshire. 41% of Vermonts land area is part of the Connecticut Rivers watershed, Lake Champlain, the major lake in Vermont, is the sixth-largest body of fresh water in the United States and separates Vermont from New York in the northwest portion of the state. From north to south, Vermont is 159 miles long and its greatest width, from east to west, is 89 miles at the Canada–U. S. Border, the narrowest width is 37 miles at the Massachusetts line, the states geographic center is approximately three miles east of Roxbury, in Washington County. There are fifteen U. S. federal border crossings between Vermont and Canada, the origin of the name Vermont is uncertain, but likely comes from the French les Verts Monts, meaning the Green Mountains

11.
Bachelor of Arts
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A Bachelor of Arts is a bachelors degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both. Bachelor of Arts degree programs take three to four years depending on the country, academic institution, and specific specializations, majors or minors. The word baccalaureus or baccalarium should not be confused with baccalaureatus, degree diplomas generally are printed on high-quality paper or parchment, individual institutions set the preferred abbreviation for their degrees. In Pakistan, the Bachelor of Arts degree can also be attained within two years as an external degree, in colleges and universities in Australia, New Zealand, Nepal and South Africa, the BA degree can be taken over three years of full-time study. Unlike in other countries, students do not receive a grade for their Bachelor of Arts degree with varying levels of honours. Qualified students may be admitted, after they have achieved their Bachelors program with an overall grade point average. Thus, to achieve a Bachelor Honours degree, a postgraduate year. A student who holds a Honours degree is eligible for entry to either a Doctorate or a very high research Master´s degree program. Education in Canada is controlled by the Provinces and can be different depending on the province in Canada. Canadian universities typically offer a 3-year Bachelor of Arts degrees, in many universities and colleges, Bachelor of Arts degrees are differentiated either as Bachelors of Arts or as honours Bachelor of Arts degree. The honours degrees are designated with the abbreviation in brackets of. It should not be confused with the consecutive Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours, Latin Baccalaureatus in Artibus Cum Honore, BA hon. de jure without brackets and with a dot. It is a degree, which is considered to be the equivalent of a corresponding maîtrise degree under the French influenced system. Going back in history, a three-year Bachelor of Arts degree was called a pass degree or general degree. Students may be required to undertake a long high-quality research empirical thesis combined with a selection of courses from the relevant field of studies. The consecutive B. cum Honore degree is essential if students ultimate goal is to study towards a two- or three-year very high research masters´ degree qualification. A student holding a Baccalaureatus Cum Honore degree also may choose to complete a Doctor of Philosophy program without the requirement to first complete a masters degree, over the years, in some universities certain Baccalaureatus cum Honore programs have been changed to corresponding master´s degrees. In general, in all four countries, the B. A. degree is the standard required for entry into a masters programme, in science, a BA hons degree is generally a prerequisite for entrance to a Ph. D program or a very-high-research-activity master´s programme

12.
University of Vermont
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The University of Vermont, officially The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public research university and, since 1862, the U. S. state of Vermonts sole land-grant university. Founded in 1791, UVM is among the oldest universities in the United States and is the institution of higher education established in the New England region of the U. S. northeast. It is also listed as one of the original eight Public Ivy institutions in the United States, the university is incorporated in the city of Burlington–Vermonts most populous municipality. The campus Dudley H. Davis Center was the first student center in the country to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification. The largest hospital complex in Vermont, the University of Vermont Medical Center, has its facility on the UVM campus and is affiliated with the Robert Larner College of Medicine. The University of Vermont was founded as a university in 1791. The university enrolled its first students 10 years later and its first president, the Rev. Daniel C. Sanders, was hired in 1800, and served as the faculty member for seven years. Instruction began in 1801, and the first class graduated in 1804, in 1865, the university merged with Vermont Agricultural College, emerging as the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College. Much of the funding and planning for the university was undertaken by Ira Allen. Allen donated a 50-acre parcel of land for the universitys establishment, most of this land has been maintained as the universitys main green, upon which stands a statue of Allen. The citizens of Burlington helped fund the universitys first edifice, and and this building came to be known as Old Mill for its resemblance to New England mills of the time. The Marquis de Lafayette, a French general who became a commander in the American Revolution, a statue of Lafayette stands at the north end of the main green. In 1871, UVM defied custom and admitted two women as students, Four years later, it was the first American university to admit women to full membership into the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the countrys oldest collegiate academic honor society. Likewise, in 1877, it initiated the first African American into the society, in 1924, the first radio broadcast in Vermont occurred from the college station, WCAX, run by students then, now the call sign of a commercial television station. For 73 years, UVM held an annual Kake Walk where students wore blackface, the University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees, students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the seven undergraduate colleges or schools. UVM is ranked tied for 92nd in U. S. News & World Reports 2017 national university rankings, and is ranked tied for 38th among public universities

13.
Flying Buffalo
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Flying Buffalo Incorporated is a Scottsdale, Arizona game company that publishes role playing games, card games, gaming materials, and runs Play-by-mail games. In 1970 Rick Loomis invented a game called Nuclear Destruction, a play-by-mail game, after leaving the military in 1972, Loomis and MacGregor incorporated their PBM company as Flying Buffalo, Inc. or FBI. Loomis and MacGregor pooled their savings to purchase a Raytheon 704 minicomputer to run PBM turns, Loomis acquired Nuclear War and began publishing it in 1972, soon becoming one of Flying Buffalos best sellers. Nuclear Destruction is widely considered to be the first commercial play-by-mail game, in 1976 the company started running a space exploration/conquest PBM game titled Starweb. Flying Buffalo has also published games outside of PBM, starting off with the card game Nuclear War, in 1975 they published Tunnels and Trolls, a fantasy role playing game generally similar to Dungeons & Dragons. Later products included background materials for fantasy role playing games, which became the Catalyst series and they also produce a range of unusual dice, and currently hold the printing rights to the Ace of Aces and Lost Worlds flip book systems. The company also ran a store at various locations in Tempe. In 1992, the fiction book Mages Blood and Old Bones, following the dissolution of TSR in 1997, Flying Buffalo remains the oldest pen-and-paper role-playing game publisher in the world. Ace of Aces Berserker Battle Plan Catalyst Death Dice Feudal Lords Imperialism Lost Worlds Mercenaries, Spies, Nuclear War Pizza Dice Riftlords Starfaring Starweb Tunnels and Trolls Viva. Flying Buffalo has had a history in the gaming industry and has won numerous awards. 1981 winner Charles Roberts/Origins Gamers Choice of 1980 and was inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame in 1994, citybook I,1982 Illuminati PBM game won best Play By Mail Game. 1990,1991,1992,1993,1994, and 1995 and was put in the Hall of Fame in 1997. Nuclear Proliferation,1992 Nuclear Escalation, Best Science Fiction Boardgame of 1983 Stormhaven, Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1983 Starweb, Best Play By Mail Game 1984,1997,2000,2003, and 2006. Wargamers Information,1990 Origins Hall of Fame award is given to game designers whose contributions are considered to be the best in their field, Flying Buffalo has had a number of their writers and designers win this award

14.
Tunnels & Trolls
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Tunnels & Trolls is a fantasy role-playing game designed by Ken St. Andre and first published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo. St. Andre, a librarian in Phoenix, Arizona, liked the idea of fantasy role-playing after reading a friends D&D rule books but found the actual rules confusing. The first edition of Tunnels & Trolls was self-published in April 1975, in June 1975, publisher Flying Buffalo Inc. released a second edition of the game, and Tunnels & Trolls quickly became D&Ds biggest competitor. Tunnels & Trolls had similar statistics, classes, and adventures to Dungeons & Dragons, according to Michael Tresca, Tunnels & Trolls presented a better overall explanation of its rules, and brought a sense of impish fun to the genre. The game underwent several modifications between the release and when the 5th edition of the rules was published in 1979. This edition was translated and published abroad in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, Japan. In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Tunnels & Trolls as one of The Millenniums Most Underrated Games, editor Scott Haring said of the game everybody knows this was the second ever fantasy roleplaying game. But to dismiss it as just an opportunistic ripoff would be grossly unfair, Flying Buffalos T&T had its own zany feel – it was much less serious than D&D – and a less-complicated game system. In 2005, Flying Buffalo updated the 5th edition rules with a 5.5 publication that added about 40 pages of extra material. That same year, Fiery Dragon Productions produced a 30th Anniversary Edition under license in a tin box complete with CD, map, and monster counters, the 30th Anniversary rules are generally known as the 7th edition. One of the most significant innovations of 7th edition is the introduction of a skills system, the 7.5 edition was released in 2008 by Fiery Dragon, being an update and clarification on the 30th Anniversary Edition. In 2012, Tunnels & Trolls was re-introduced in French-speaking markets by Grimtooth under license by Flying Buffalo. The French rulebook, which is officially the 8th edition, is based on the 7th edition, the interior artwork includes the illustrations of the 5th edition, plus new inks by Liz Danforth. Several other products have already been released via Lulu. com, the production work for the 8th edition prompted Flying Buffalo to start working on a Deluxe Edition of the rulebook. As Rick Loomis, head of Flying Buffalo Inc. put it, I wanted to have a deluxe edition even better than the French one. Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls, written by St. Andre with additional input and editing from longtime players Liz Danforth. The 5th editionTunnels & Trolls core ruleset does not detail a specific setting, saying only that gameplay occurs in a world somewhat, in an interview in 1986, Ken St. The current Deluxe Edition includes Ken St. Andres house campaign setting, along with additional material by early players Jim Bear Peters and Liz Danforth

15.
Coleco
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Coleco Inc. was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as Connecticut Leather Company. The company is headquartered in Manalapan, New Jersey, while the companys first iteration disappeared in 1988 as a result of declining interest, the Colico brand was revived in 2005, and remains active to this day. Coleco originally processed shoe leather, which led to a business in leather craft kits in the 1950s. It began manufacturing plastic moulding and moved into plastic wading pools in the 1960s, the leather part of the business was then sold off. Under CEO Arnold Greenberg, the company entered the game console business with the Telstar in 1976. Dozens of companies were introducing game systems that year after Ataris successful Pong console, nearly all of these new games were based on General Instruments Pong-on-a-chip. However, General Instrument had underestimated demand, and there were severe shortages, Coleco had been one of the first to place an order, and was one of the few companies to receive an order in full. Though dedicated game consoles did not last long on the market, Coleco continued to do well in electronics. The company transitioned next into handheld electronic games, a market popularized by Mattel, an early hit was Electronic Quarterback. Coleco produced two very popular lines of games, the head to head series of two sports games, and the Mini-Arcade series of licensed video arcade titles such as Donkey Kong. A third line of educational handhelds was also produced and included the Electronic Learning Machine, Lil Genius, Digits, launched in 1982, their first four tabletop Mini-Arcades, for Pac-Man, Galaxian, Donkey Kong, and Frogger, sold approximately three million units within a year. Among these,1.5 million units were sold for Pac-Man alone, in 1983, it released three more Mini-Arcades, for Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong Junior, and Zaxxon. Coleco returned to the game console market in 1982 with the launch of the ColecoVision. While the system was popular, selling 500,000 units over two years, Coleco hedged its bet on video games by introducing a line of ROM cartridges for the Atari 2600. It also introduced the Coleco Gemini, a clone of the popular Atari 2600, when the video game business began to implode in 1983, it seemed clear that video game consoles were being supplanted by home computers. Colecos strategy was to introduce the Coleco Adam home computer, both as a system and as an expansion module to the ColecoVision. This effort failed, in part because Adams were often unreliable, Coleco withdrew from electronics early in 1985. Also in 1983, Coleco released the Cabbage Patch Kids series of dolls which were wildly successful, the purchase price was $75 million

16.
Rick Loomis
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Rick Loomis is an American game designer, most notable as the founder of Flying Buffalo. Rick Loomis served in the US Army in the 1960s, serving out his one tour of duty at Fort Shafter in Oahu, after leaving the military in 1972, Loomis and MacGregor incorporated their PBM company as Flying Buffalo, Inc. or FBI. Loomis and MacGregor pooled their savings to purchase a Raytheon 704 minicomputer to run PBM turns, Loomis claims to have been the first person ever to buy a computer solely to play games on it. Loomis acquired Nuclear War and began publishing it in 1972, soon becoming one of Flying Buffalos best sellers, Ken St. Loomis designed the Origins Award-winning play-by-mail game Starweb. After a friend suggested that someone should make an adventure book that allows the player to choose an answer and turn to another page. Buffalo Castle was an introduction to Tunnels & Trolls, a dungeon for a warrior of level 1-2. On August 19,1978, Loomis was elected as an officer to be the President. Loomis came up with the idea for Grimtooths Traps, which was published in 1981, when the companys lease on their headquarters ran out in 1985, Loomis moved the offices of Flying Buffalo to a farmhouse he had inherited in Scottsdale, Arizona. Nuclear Escalation had been the subject of a ban on all war related toys when two MPs of the UK Labour Party called the game a nasty twist on the toy industry. Loomis was interviewed as part of this saying the game is intended to be humorous. The subject is so serious that you have to laugh about it because otherwise youd cry, in 1988 Loomis received the AAGAD Hall of Fame award at the Origins Game Fair. In 2002, Flying Buffalo published The Origins Metagame for the Origins convention, when it was discovered that Outlaw Press, who were publishing supplements for T&T, had been using art without permission, Loomis revoked their T&T license. He launched a kickstarter with Ken St. Andre to fund a new edition of Tunnels & Trolls to be known as Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls, the kickstarter exceeded the goal set for it and Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls was expected before the end of 2013. However, due to the success, Liz Danforths pneumonia and additional material financed

17.
Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes
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Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes is a tabletop role-playing game designed and written by Michael A. Stackpole and first published in April 1983 by Blade, a division of Flying Buffalo, Inc. A second edition was published by Sleuth Publications, but Flying Buffalo continues to distribute the game. MSPEs mechanics are based on those of Tunnels and Trolls, with the addition of a system for characters. A few adventure modules were released for MSPE. In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes as one of The Millenniums Most Underrated Games. Editor Scott Haring described the game as one of those I cant figure out why it wasnt more popular kind of games, to make me think there may be a connection. MSPE determines character attributes by random roll, skills are purchased for the character by the player using Skill Points. Skills are available in multiple levels, but skill cost goes up exponentially as the level of the skill increases, the core game mechanic of MSPE is the Saving Throw. Unlike Dungeons & Dragons saving throws, those in MSPE are not used solely to escape danger, instead, the MSPE saving throw is an attribute roll. The Gamemaster determines the difficulty of the throw, and the player then rolls two six-sided dice and adds the value of the relevant attribute of his/her character. MSPE saving throws can also be modified by skills, in case the level of the skill being used is also added. MSPE uses a loose coupling, where any skill can potentially be used in combination with any attribute. In contrast, many other role-playing games use a tight coupling, for combat, MSPE uses the same system as Tunnels and Trolls, with expanded rules for missile weapons and additional rules for martial arts. Characters in MSPE earn Adventure Points on the basis of the risk and daring taken, success in combat, how well the characters handled their mission, gamemasters also have discretion to give out bonus APs. Earning enough APs causes the character to increase in level, in addition to overall APs, MSPE characters also earn Skill APs by using their skills. When enough skill APs are earned, the skill in question advances a level, regardless of the characters overall APs, official site Fan-made resources for the game

18.
Scottsdale, Arizona
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Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, adjacent to the Greater Phoenix Area. The New York Times described downtown Scottsdale as a version of Miamis South Beach and as having plenty of late night partying. Its slogan is The Wests Most Western Town, Scottsdale,31 miles long and 11.4 miles wide at its widest point, shares boundaries with many other municipalities and entities. On the west, Scottsdale is bordered by Phoenix, Paradise Valley, carefree is located along the western boundary, as well as sharing Scottsdales northern boundary with the Tonto National Forest. To the south Scottsdale is bordered by Tempe, the area which would include what would become Scottsdale was originally inhabited by the Hohokam, from approximately 300 BC to 1450 AD. This ancient civilization farmed the area and developed a network of canals for irrigation which was unsurpassed in pre-Columbian North America. At its peak, the canals stretched over 250 miles, many of which remains extant today, some having been renovated. Under still-mysterious circumstances, the Hohokam disappeared around 1450 or 1500, the areas later occupants, the Pima and Oodham, are thought to be the direct descendants of the Hohokam people. Before European settlement, Scottsdale was a Pima village known as Vaṣai S-vaṣonĭ, some Pima remained in their original homes well into the 20th century. For example, until the late 1960s, there was a traditional dwelling on the southeast corner of Indian Bend Road. Currently, those Pima who live within Scottsdale reside in homes rather than traditional dwellings. Many Pima and Maricopa people continue to reside on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, in the early to mid 1880s, U. S. Army Chaplain Winfield Scott visited the Salt River Valley and was impressed with the region and its potential for agriculture. Returning in 1888 with his wife, Helen, he purchased 640 acres for $3.50 an acre for a stretch of land where downtown Scottsdale is now located. Many of the original settlers, recruited by Scott from the East and Midwest, were educated and had an appreciation for cultural activities. The towns name was changed to Scottsdale in 1894, after its founder, while not in its original building, Cavallieres has been in continuance operation since that time. Between 1908 and 1933, due to the construction of the Granite Reef and Roosevelt dams, Scottsdales population experienced a boom, Scottsdale became a small market town providing services for families involved in the agricultural industry. Although cotton is grown in southern Arizona, Scottsdales cotton boom ended with the loss of government contracts at the end of the war. In 1920, a resort was opened on 12 acres of the property owned by the artist Jessie Benton Evans

19.
Ken St. Andre
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Kenneth Eugene St. Andre is an American fantasy author and game designer, best known for his work with Tunnels & Trolls and Wasteland. He has been a member of The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America since 1989. Ken St. Andre first saw the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game in April 1975, St. Andre eventually called his game Tunnels & Trolls, and printed 100 copies of the first edition in 1975. In addition to writing the rules, Ken was one of the creators of solitaire adventures which allowed players to experience the game without a game master or judge. St. Andre has written many modules and stand alone adventures for Tunnels and Trolls, St. Andre designed Starfaring, published by Flying Buffalo in 1976 as the first-ever science fiction roleplaying game. Monsters. was published by Metagaming Concepts in 1976, although Flying Buffalo got the rights to print an edition in 1979. He also wrote the gamebooks Deathtrap Equalizer Dungeon and Naked Doom in 1977 after Loomiss own Buffalo Castle and he designed Chaosiums first licensed role-playing game, Stormbringer, in 1981. With Liz Danforth and Michael Stackpole, St. Andre designed the roleplaying game Wasteland. Tunnels & Trolls was published in a new 5.5 edition in 2005 by Flying Buffalo, with new rules, background, fiery Dragon Productions published a heavily revised seventh edition in 2005, with revisions by St. Andre. St. Andre produced T&T adventures such as Hot Pursuit, in 2011, St. Andre and Richard Loomis created a Kickstarter project to fund a new edition of Tunnels & Trolls. The project met its goals, and was scheduled to be released in February,2013. St. Andre was chosen by vote as a game designer to be featured as the king of spades in Flying Buffalos 2014 Famous Game Designers Playing Card Deck. St. Andre has written short stories and novels. Old Soldiers Never, in Shrapnel, Fragments from the Inner Sphere, turtle in the Tower, in Shadowrun, Into the Shadows edited by Jordan K. Weisman. An anthology of stories based on the Shadowrun role-playing game, the Two Worst Thieves in Khazan in Mages Blood and Old Bones. The Triple Death, in Enchanted Forests edited by Katharine Kerr, an anthology of stories about magical woods. A very short story in issue 16 of the online magazine, a Thiefs Day in Khazan in Golden Heroes. Dragon Child, by Ken St. Andre and James L. Shipman, a fantasy novel based on the Tunnels & Trolls role-playing game

20.
Wasteland (video game)
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Wasteland is a science fiction open world role-playing video game developed by Interplay and published by Electronic Arts in 1988. The game is set in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic America destroyed by nuclear holocaust generations before, developers originally made the game for the Apple II and it was ported to the Commodore 64 and MS-DOS. It was re-released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux in 2013 via Steam and GOG. com, the games general setting and concept became the basis for Interplays 1997 role-playing video game Fallout, which would extend into the Fallout series. Game developer inXile Entertainment released a sequel, Wasteland 2, in 2014, characters in Wasteland have various statistics that allow the characters to use different skills and weapons. Experience is gained through battle and skill usage, the players party begins with four characters. Through the course of the game the party can hold as many as seven characters by recruiting certain citizens, the game is noted for its high and unforgiving difficulty level. S. Wasteland was one of the first games featuring a persistent world, returning to an area later in the game, the player would find it in the state the player left it in, rather than being reset, as was common for games of the time. Since hard drives were still rare in home computers in 1988, another feature of the game was the inclusion of a printed collection of paragraphs that the player would read at the appropriate times. These paragraphs described encounters and conversations, contained clues, and added to the texture of the game. Because programming space was at a premium, it saved on resources to have most of the story printed out in a separate manual rather than stored within the games code itself. The paragraph books also served as a form of copy protection, someone playing a copied version of the game would miss out on much of the story. In 2087, generations after the devastation of a nuclear war in 1998. A team of Desert Rangers is assigned to investigate a series of disturbances in nearby areas, throughout the game, the rangers explore the remaining enclaves of human civilization, including a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. As the groups investigation deepens, the rangers discover evidence of a larger menace threatening to exterminate what is left of humankind, Finster has transformed himself into a cyborg under the AIs control. The AIs ultimate goal is to complete Project Darwin, which Finster was in charge of, while all versions were nearly identical in terms of gameplay, the EGA PC port had upgraded graphics, although the C64 boasted the best sound. The PC version differed by having a skill called Combat Shooting which could be bought only when a character was first created. Wasteland was re-released as part of Interplays 10 Year Anthology, Classic Collection in 1995 and these later bundled releases were missing the original setup program, which allowed the games maps to be reset, while retaining the players original team of Rangers. Jeremy Reaban wrote a program that emulated this functionality

21.
Interplay Entertainment
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Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo, Troy Worrell, Jay Patel and Bill Heineman. As a developer, Interplay is best known as the creator of the original Fallout series and as a publisher for the Baldurs Gate, the first projects were non-original and consisted of software conversions and even some military work for Loral Corporation. After negotiations with Activision, Interplay entered a US$100,000 contract to produce three illustrated text adventures for them, published in 1984, Mindshadow is loosely based on Robert Ludlums Bourne Identity while The Tracer Sanction puts the player in the role of an interplanetary secret agent. Borrowed Time which features a script by Arnie Katz Subway Software followed in 1985 and these adventures built upon work previously done by Fargo, his first game was the 1981 published Demons Forge. Interplays parser was developed by Fargo and an associate and in one version understands about 250 nouns and 200 verbs as well as prepositions, in 1986, Tass Times in Tonetown followed. Interplay made a name for itself as a quality developer of role-playing video games with the three-part series The Bards Tale, critically acclaimed Wasteland, all of them were published by Electronic Arts. In 1995, Interplay published the hit game Descent, developed by startup Parallax Software, Interplay published several Star Trek video games, including Star Trek, 25th Anniversary for computers and for Nintendo and Star Trek, Judgment Rites. These games had later CD-ROM editions released with the original Star Trek cast providing voices, Interplay also published Starfleet Academy and Klingon Academy games, and Starfleet Command series, beginning with Star Trek, Starfleet Command. Another game, Star Trek, Secret of Vulcan Fury, was in development in the late 1990s but was never completed, in 1995, after several years of delays, Interplay finally published its role-playing game Stonekeep. Other PC games released during the mid-to-late 1990s games included Carmageddon, Fragile Allegiance, Hardwar, in 1997, Interplay developed and released Fallout, a successful and critically acclaimed role-playing video game set in a retro-futuristic post-apocalyptic setting. Black Isle Studios, a newly created in-house developer, followed with the sequel, Fallout 2, another successful subsequent Interplay franchise was Baldurs Gate, a Dungeons & Dragons game that was developed by BioWare and which spawned a successful expansion, sequel and spin-off series. The spin-off series started with Baldurs Gate, Dark Alliance, the games success forged a sequel as well. Aside from Dark Alliance, Interplay published a few notable console series such as Loaded and the game series ClayFighter. By 1998 the financial situation at Interplay was dire and the company was in bankruptcy court, to avert bankruptcy Interplay went public in order to raise capital and pay off debt. Interplay was successful in its offering and avoided bankruptcy. Shares were sold on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and Interplay changed its name to Interplay Entertainment Corp, Interplay continued to endure losses under Brian Fargo due to increased competition, less than stellar returns on Interplay’s sports division and the lack of console titles. This forced Interplay to seek additional funding two years later with an investment from Titus Software, a Paris-based game company, Titus agreed to invest 25 million dollars in Interplay and a few months later this was followed up by an additional 10 million investment. Despite releasing critically acclaimed games such as Descent 3 and FreeSpace 2 the company then reported several additional quarters of losses, by 2001, Titus Software completed its acquisition of majority control of Interplay

22.
Wasteland 2
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It is the first official sequel to the 1988 video game Wasteland. The game was successfully funded through Kickstarter, part of a trend of high-profile developers launching projects on the site. After the postponement of the release date from October 2013. An enhanced version of the game, named Wasteland 2, Directors Cut, was released on October 13,2015, Wasteland 2 features a semi-overhead view with a rotatable camera. It is a turn-based and party-based role-playing game with tactical combat, the players party has room for seven characters, including the four player-designed characters and up to three non-player characters. The player characters are highly customizable and the choice of statistics, skills. The non-player characters in the party each have their own personality, motivations, opinions, on the day of the cataclysm, a company of U. S. The soldiers sought shelter in the prison, expelled the inmates, years later, together they formed the Desert Rangers, in the great tradition of the Texas and Arizona Rangers, to help other survivors in the desert and beyond it. The experienced ranger Ace is found dead by locals with signs of violence on his body and this greatly troubles General Vargas, the leader of the Desert Rangers. General Vargas, just a few days prior, sent Ace out to investigate a strange radio signal that speaks of man and machine becoming one while threatening to attack and wipe out the Desert Rangers. Controlling a squad of newly recruited rangers, the player is tasked with finding out who killed Ace and why they did it, the story starts at the funeral of Ace, one of the Desert Rangers featured in the original game. Their initial investigation requires them to go to a tower in the desert where Ace was attacked and killed. General Vargas is disturbed to learn of the existence of the synth, recalling the artificial intelligence monsters that he and his fellow Rangers fought years before in the original Wasteland game. He tells the recruits that they must take on Aces original mission of installing repeater units in three towers in order to triangulate the location of a suspicious radio message. The first repeater is already installed, now they must go to towers in Highpool, Ranger team Echo-One manage to find and make their way to Damonta, acquiring new allies, finding new communities and solving crises along the way. There, instead of the hub of activity they were expecting, they find Damonta torn apart by rampaging robots. In the process of rescuing the survivors, the Rangers find a synth named Tinker installing a mechanical heart in a young girl. They kill it, and in doing so learn that it was working for another synth that plans to upgrade humanity into robot bodies - whether they agree to the modifications or not

23.
InXile Entertainment
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InXile Entertainment is an American video game developer that specializes in role-playing video games. The company was formed in late 2002 by Brian Fargo, a founder of Interplay Productions and we knew we wanted to stay in video games, so starting a company seemed like a good idea -- he spent 20 years at Interplay and I was there for 13. And before we ever thought of the name inXile, Brian put as his job description on the cards, Leader in exile. People got such an out of that card, we kept saying in exile, in exile, in exile so much that we just thought. In April 2012, inXile launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Wasteland 2, the crowdfunding drive raised more than 300% of its initial goal of $900,000, ending at $2,933,252. In March 2013, inXile returned to Kickstarter to crowdfund Torment, the Kickstarter for Torment, Tides of Numenera broke the record of fastest Kickstart drive to $1 million, raising that amount in seven hours and two minutes. During a Kickstarter campaign for the game Wasteland 2, Brian Fargo developed the Kicking it Forward program, under this program, inXile Entertainment pledged to use 5% of post-launch net profits to back future Kickstarter projects. As of March 2013, a total of 202 funded and 31 active projects have participated in the initiative, such as Shadowrun Returns and Leisure Suit Larry, the following games have been developed by InXile Entertainment. Until 2015, InXile had a web division under the name of SparkWorkz and it hosted smaller web titles such as Fantastic Contraption that were mostly free to play. SparkWorkz got its revenue via in-browser advertising, part of the revenue went directly to the developers of the hosted games

24.
Occult
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The occult is knowledge of the hidden. In common English usage, occult refers to knowledge of the paranormal, as opposed to knowledge of the measurable, the terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. Occultism is the study of practices, including magic, alchemy, extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, religion. Alchemy was common among important seventeenth-century scientists, such as Isaac Newton, Newton was even accused of introducing occult agencies into natural science when he postulated gravity as a force capable of acting over vast distances. By the eighteenth century these unorthodox religious and philosophical concerns were well-defined as occult, inasmuch as they lay on the outermost fringe of accepted forms of knowledge and they were, however, preserved by antiquarians and mystics. Occult science is the research into or formulation of occult concepts in a manner that resembles the way natural science researches or describes phenomena. In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term occult science as a synonym for magic, Occult qualities are properties that have no known rational explanation, in the Middle Ages, for example, magnetism was considered an occult quality. Newtons contemporaries severely criticized his theory that gravity was effected through action at a distance, some religions and sects enthusiastically embrace occultism as an integral esoteric aspect of mystical religious experience. This attitude is common within Wicca and many other modern pagan religions, some other religious denominations disapprove of occultism in most or all forms. They may view the occult as being anything supernatural or paranormal which is not achieved by or through God, monistic in contrast to Christian dualistic beliefs of a separation between body and spirit, Gnostic i. e. Walker, Benjamin. Encyclopedia of the Occult, the Esoteric and the Supernatural, harold W. Percival, Joined the Theosophical Society in 1892. Blavatsky, Occultism versus the Occult Arts, Lucifer, May 1888 Bardon, true to His Ways, Purity & Safety in Christian Spiritual Practice, ISBN 1-932124-61-6. ISBN 1-57863-150-5 Forshaw, Peter, The Occult Middle Ages, in Christopher Partridge, The Occult World, London, Routledge,2014 Gettings, Fred, Vision of the Occult, ISBN 0-7126-1438-9 Kontou, Tatiana – Willburn, Sarah. The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult, ISBN 978-0-7546-6912-8 Martin, W. Rische, J. Rische, K. & VanGordon, K. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.201 p. N. B, the scope of this study also embraces the occult. ISBN 0-8028-0262-1 Partridge, Christopher, The Occult World, London, the Tree of Life, An Illustrated Study in Magic. Newton, Isaac, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton Rogers, L. W. Hints to Young Students of Occultism. Albany, NY, The Theosophical Book Company, joseph H. Peterson, Twilit Grotto, Archives of Western Esoterica Occult Science and Philosophy of the Renaissance

25.
Dungeons & Dragons
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Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997 and it was derived from miniature wargames with a variation of the Chainmail game serving as the initial rule system. D&Ds publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games, D&D departs from traditional wargaming and assigns each player a specific character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon imaginary adventures within a fantasy setting, a Dungeon Master serves as the games referee and storyteller, while maintaining the setting in which the adventures occur and playing the role of the inhabitants. The characters form a party that interacts with the settings inhabitants, together they solve dilemmas, engage in battles and gather treasure and knowledge. In the process the characters experience points to become increasingly powerful over a series of sessions. The early success of Dungeons & Dragons led to a proliferation of game systems. Despite this competition, D&D remains the leader in the role-playing game industry. In 1977, the game was split into two branches, the relatively rules-light game system of Dungeons & Dragons and the more structured, AD&D 2nd Edition was published in 1989. In 2000, the line of the game was discontinued. These rules formed the basis of the d20 System which is available under the Open Game License for use by other publishers, Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5 was released in June 2003, with a 4th edition in June 2008. A 5th edition was released during the half of 2014. The game has been supplemented by many adventures as well as commercial campaign settings suitable for use by regular gaming groups. The game has won awards and has been translated into many languages beyond the original English. Dungeons & Dragons is a structured yet open-ended role-playing game and it is normally played indoors with the participants seated around a tabletop. Typically, each player only a single character, which represents an individual in a fictional setting. During the course of play, each player directs the actions of their character, a game often continues over a series of meetings to complete a single adventure, and longer into a series of related gaming adventures, called a campaign. The results of the choices and the overall storyline for the game are determined by the Dungeon Master according to the rules of the game

26.
The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate
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The Bards Tale III, Thief of Fate is a computer fantasy role-playing game created by Interplay Productions in 1988. It is the sequel to The Bards Tale. It was designed by Burger Bill Heineman, Bruce Schlickbernd, the game was released for the Amiga, Apple II, Commodore 64 and DOS. The box cover states it thus, Skara Brae is in ruins, the Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasnt stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed, someone—or some thing—has sealed the citys fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out-matched. What the world now is a thief. The game begins in a camp outside the ruined Skara Brae. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably, the ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the citys 30x30 layout from The Bards Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarians Bow and it turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarians Tower, in Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before. Gelidia, The party is tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatirs Sphere. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep, in a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half-elf later identified as Alendar who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia, Shocked at the news of Lanatirs death as much as Valarians, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, the party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb and this involves overcoming a dragon, and also Allirias lover Cyanis who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia, In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofists Helm and they arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot-themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his alliance with the dark one

27.
Neuromancer (video game)
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Neuromancer is an adventure video game developed by Interplay Productions and published by Mediagenic. It was released in 1988 for the Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Commodore 64 and it was loosely based on William Gibsons 1984 novel of the same name and set within both the fictional real world and the extensively realized and detailed world of cyberspace. It is also noted for having a soundtrack based on the Devo song Some Things Never Change from their album Total Devo, the gaming rights at the time were owned by Timothy Leary, who brought the project to Interplay to develop. Different real world locations led to different grid sectors, thus developing the plot, cyberspace combat was also simulated in the game as the player attempted to breach ICE to gain entry to database nodes and potentially face the formidable AIs that hide behind them. Combat with ICE consisted of the ICE and the player doing damage to each other until either the ICE cracked or the player was kicked out of cyberspace. Skills and abilities can be purchased as skill chips that can be used in a brain jack implanted in the protagonists head, skills could also increase with successful completion of a difficult task. The game also used a wheel as a form of copy protection. The code wheel was necessary to access the PAX terminals in the game at certain points and without it, the game is loosely based on the events of the novel Neuromancer by William Gibson. Locations, characters, items and nuances of cyberspace from the novel appear, unfortunately, the players character has fallen on hard times and has had to pawn his cyberspace deck. He awakes in a plate of Ratz famous spaghetti, and the first order of business is to some way to retrieve his old deck from the nearby pawnshop. After destroying Greystoke, the player meets Neuromancer who explains that he has manipulated the player killing the other AIs. However, the player can use their skills to escape and destroy Neuromancer, Some other aspects of the book are included in the game as red herrings. For example, the character Armitage can contact the player at one point, computer Gaming World gave Neuromancer a very favorable review, citing the games pacing and wit, as well as the use of Gibsons setting. Combat was also praised, as was the reward of information for winning combat, the only complaints it had about the game were the predetermined responses in conversation, and the excessive use of disk swapping. The magazine awarded it a title of Adventure Game of the Year, also favorably reviewed the game, citing the graphics, user interface, and the Devo soundtrack, and only criticizing the adolescent jokes. The magazine named the game to its list of nine games for 1989. Neuromancer at MobyGames Neuromancer can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive Images of Neuromancer C64 package, manual and screen shots

28.
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (computer game)
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Star Trek, 25th Anniversary is an adventure video game developed and published by Interplay Productions, based on the Star Trek universe. The game chronicles various missions of James T, Kirk and his crew of the USS Enterprise. Its 1993 sequel, Star Trek, Judgment Rites, continues and concludes this two-game series, the player takes on the role of Captain James T. Kirk on board the USS Enterprise, a Starfleet vessel as seen in the American space opera television series Star Trek and it is split into two main modes, a main bridge view, and a third-person mode whenever an away team is transported to a planet or space station. The away team always consists of Kirk, Spock and Leonard McCoy, the player interacts with these modes using a point and click interface via the mouse. The game was broken up into a series of episodes, with each opening with a message received in-game from Starfleet Command. They are typically structured to have a ship to ship combat before the moves onto a third-person adventure game featuring an away team. The Episodes are as follows, Demon World, Settlers belonging to a religious sect have reported being attacked by Demons near their mines, Kirk must discover the truth behind these Demons. Hijacked, The USS Masada has not reported in, upon investigation, The Enterprise discovers that the ship has been captured by Elasi Pirates who are holding the crew hostage. Kirk must discover a way to recover the ship and crew unharmed, loves Labor Jeopardized, Romulans have crossed the Neutral Zone and attacked the Federation Research Station Ark 7. Unfortunately, the attack has created a situation that Enterprise crew must deal with. When responding to a call from a ship under attack by pirates. He is traced to an alien spacecraft. The Enterprise crew must discover the connection between the derelict, the pirates and Mudd, feathered Serpent, A Klingon battle fleet is about to cross into Federation space, in pursuit of a War Criminal. The Enterprise must find this War Criminal to prevent a war and that Old Devil Moon, Strange power readings have been detected from a large asteroid approaching a pre-warp star system. The Enterprise discovers an ancient nuclear missile base that does not realize that the war ended 1000 years earlier, vengeance, The Enterprise, responding to a distress call from the USS Republic, finds it nearly destroyed. Kirk must figure out what destroyed the ship and stop those responsible from striking again and these two different versions are available on the CD version by a dialog choice at the beginning of the episode. In the CD-ROM edition of the game, following the conclusion of the last mission is a title card memorializing Gene Roddenberry with a voice over narration by William Shatner praising his life

29.
Star Trek: Judgment Rites
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Judgment Rites uses the same DOS gaming engine as the earlier Star Trek, 25th Anniversary, however, it had sharper graphics and sound, particularly with the CD-ROM edition. The space battle sequences are now optional, with adjustable difficulty. It was designed by Bruce Schlickbernd and Jayesh J. Patel, with scenarios by Michael A. Stackpole, Scott Bennie, Mark OGreen, and Liz Danforth. The canceled 1997 game Star Trek, Secret of Vulcan Fury notwithstanding and they are not seemingly random missions. Federation - The Enterprise is confused by a rift in space-time that deposits a heavily damaged Federation starship before it. The ship, the USS Alexander, reports that it has returned from 8 days in the future, the crew of the Enterprise must discover the cause of the destruction and prevent it from happening. Sentinel - A Federation science ship, observing a primitive race on a world, is suddenly scanned from the planet. The Enterprise is called in to investigate, no Mans Land - The Enterprise is dispatched to search an area where several Federation starships have disappeared without explanation. When they arrive, Kirk and crew are confronted by Trelane, after a battle with the triplane, Kirk must stop Trelane, find the missing ships and discourage Trelanes interest in war once and for all. Kirk is confronted by pre-recorded holographic emissaries, of an angelic, esthetically pleasing, civilized species, Kirk must convince these emissaries to release the last remains of their genetic material to store for 50,000 years. Voids - The Enterprise is assigned to chart the Antares Rift, Museum Piece - The Enterprise and its crew have finally been granted shore leave and are headed to Nova Atar to spend it. As they approach, a Starfleet admiral asks Kirk to preside over a function at the Smithsonian Annex while hes there. Kirk agrees, but things turn out to be more exciting than they expected when the Museum is attacked by terrorists with unknown motives, with only their wits and the machines on display, they must resolve the situation before the terrorists escape. - The Enterprise is summoned to the Klingon Neutral Zone when an alien ship arrives and announces its intent to land on top of a major population center. Complicating things, a Klingon battlecruiser has arrived as well, Kirk must stop the ship from landing, as well as avoid provoking the Klingons, who will be watching his every move. Yet there is Method in it. - The ship has been prevented from landing, but a new mystery awaits, the builders of the ship want to make contact with the Federation, but only if Kirk can pass a series of philosophical tests to prove his worth. In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked it as the 96th best PC game of all time, Star Trek, Judgment Rites at the Internet Movie Database Star Trek, Judgment Rites at Memory Alpha Star Trek, Judgment Rites at MobyGames

30.
Star Wars Customizable Card Game
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Star Wars, Customizable Card Game is a customizable card game based on the Star Wars fictional universe. It was created by Decipher, Inc. which also produced the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, the game was produced from December 1995 until December 2001. Operation and oversight of the game was taken over by a Decipher created volunteer group called the Star Wars Customizable Card Game Players Committee. To date, the Players Committee, or PC, still runs the game and creates new cards known as cards that are released online in PDF format. SW, CCG can also be played online, Holotable. com is the official Player Committee platform, Star Wars CCG was first released in December 1995 after game play rights were purchased from a game designer. Over the years, Decipher added 11 full expansions to the card base, as well as numerous smaller expansions, special purpose sets. The last set, Theed Palace, was offered in the fall of 2001, the game spanned all of the classic Star Wars trilogy as well as The Phantom Menace. At the end of 2001, after negotiation, Lucasfilm chose not to renew Deciphers license to use the Star Wars intellectual property. The license was granted to Wizards of the Coast, which used it to create their own game, Decipher can no longer legally create new expansions to SWCCG, many cards that were in development can never be released to the public. As of 2016, SWCCG still has a playing community. The game is administered by a Players Committee, which rules, organizes tournaments. The new virtual cards function as new cards and keep the game environment constantly evolving. The virtual card overlays are available for free on the Players Committee website, to date, the Players Committee has produced 8 blocks of virtual sets. SWCCG is also available online on Holotable, Each game requires one player to play the Light Side of the Force while the other plays the Dark Side. In friendly play, a player can specialize in one side or the other and this two-sided aspect is rare in customizable card games. The action of the game occurs at various Location cards familiar from the Star Wars Universe, locations can be deployed as the game progresses, furthermore, most locations come in both Dark and Light-side flavors, and an on-the-table location can be converted at any time. Most locations affect game play in some way, all also provide Force icons, Force is the games resource, similar to mana from Magic, the Gathering, however, it is executed quite differently and is the games defining trait. Each unit of Force is simply a card from the top of a players deck, when used to deploy something, each unit of Force is placed on another pile, the Used Pile, which then cycles back to the bottom of the deck

31.
Timothy Zahn
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Timothy Zahn is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy. He is known for the Thrawn series of Star Wars novels, Zahns novella Cascade Point won the 1984 Hugo Award. At the time, Zahn was writing what would become known as the Thrawn trilogy, in turn, West End released sourcebooks for Zahns three novels from 1992-1994. Zahn also wrote the young adult Dragonback series and the popular Conquerors trilogy

32.
Talon Karrde
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This is an incomplete list of prominent characters from the Star Wars expanded universe, now rebranded Star Wars Legends. The accompanying works were declared non-canon to the Star Wars franchise by Lucasfilm in 2014 and this list applies only to characters who completely appear in Legends media, and who therefore do not exist in the canon continuity. For characters belonging to the continuity, see List of Star Wars characters. 8t88 A droid working with Jerec in Star Wars Jedi Knight, Abeloth A dark side entity, Abeloth began as a mortal woman who came across the immortal Force entities, the Ones, on their mysterious home world. Taking on the mantle of the Mother, Abeloth helped the The Father keep the peace between her warring Son and Daughter for many years. However, fearing her own mortality, the Mother bathed in the Pool of Knowledge and drank from the Font of Power, the result was that she became the dark side entity Abeloth. Following this Abeloths family relocated to the mysterious planet Mortis, leaving her to her lonely prison, millennia later, following the actions of the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, the Jedi launched an attack on Centerpoint and destroyed the ancient space station. This resulted in the destruction of Sinkhole Station, allowing Abeloth to finally leave her prison. Using her dark powers, Abeloth possessed the charismatic Senator Rokari Kem. She was eventually destroyed by the efforts of Skywalker and his Sith counterpart, Darth Krayt. King Adas King of Korriban during the time of the First Sith Empire and his reign lasted nearly three hundred years. Darth Andeddu The self-styled Immortal God-King of Prakith who reigned as Dark Lord of the Sith during the Hundred-Year Darkness and he left behind a holocron that supposedly held the secret to immortality. Nom Anor A Yuuzhan Vong character prominent throughout The New Jedi Order series of novels and he was responsible for half of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion in the Star Wars galaxy. In the latter half of the The New Jedi Order, he became an antihero as he led a movement among his people to take down their ruler. By the seriess end, having seen to the deaths of Shimrra and his puppet master Onimi, Bail Antilles An Alderaanian senator, as he is the father of Breha Antilles, wife to Bail Organa, Antilles is the adoptive grandfather of Princess Leia Organa. Seti Ashgad A hyperdrive engineer working for the Incom Corporation who also served in the Galactic Senate during the days of the Clone Wars and he was known as The Golden Tempter, and was also known for his extreme ambition and wanted to replace Palpatine as Supreme Chancellor. Attichitcuk — portrayed by Paul Gale The father of Chewbacca and he was one of Kashyyyks prominent chieftains during the final years of the Galactic Republic. He appears as a character in Star Wars, Galactic Battlegrounds

33.
E-book
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An electronic book is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Although sometimes defined as a version of a printed book. Commercially produced and sold e-books are usually intended to be read on dedicated e-reader devices, however, almost any sophisticated computer device that features a controllable viewing screen can also be used to read e-books, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. In the 2000s, there was a trend of print and e-book sales moving to the Internet, where readers buy traditional paper books and e-books on websites using e-commerce systems. With e-books, users can browse through online, and then when they select and order titles. At the start of 2012 in the U. S. more e-books were published online than were distributed in hardcover, the main reasons that people are buying e-books online are due to possibly lower prices, increased comfort and a larger selection of titles. With e-books, lectronic bookmarks make referencing easier, and e-book readers may allow the user to annotate pages, although fiction and non-fiction books come in e-book formats, technical material is especially suited for e-book delivery because it can be searched for keywords. In addition, for programming books, code examples can be copied, E-book reading is increasing in the U. S. by 2014, 28% of adults had read an e-book, compared to 23% in 2013. This is increasing, because by 2014 50% of American adults had an e-reader or a tablet, E-books are also referred to as ebooks, eBooks, e-Books, e-journals, e-editions or as digital books. The devices that are designed specifically for reading e-books are called e-readers, the idea of an e-reader that would enable a reader to view books on a screen came to Bob Brown after watching his first talkie. In 1930, he wrote a book on this idea and titled it The Readies, although Brown came up with the idea intellectually in the 1930s, early commercial e-readers did not follow his model. Schuessler relates it to a DJ spinning bits of old songs to create a beat or a new song as opposed to just a remix of a familiar song. The inventor of the first e-book is not widely agreed upon and her idea behind the device was to decrease the number of books that her pupils carried to school. The first e-book may be the Index Thomisticus, a heavily annotated electronic index to the works of Thomas Aquinas, prepared by Roberto Busa beginning in 1949, although originally stored on a single computer, a distributable CD-ROM version appeared in 1989. In 2005, the Index was published online, augment ran on specialized hardware, while FRESS ran on IBM mainframes. All these systems also provided extensive hyperlinking, graphics, and other capabilities, van Dam is generally thought to have coined the term electronic book, and it was established enough to use in an article title by 1985. FRESS was used for reading extensive primary texts online, as well as for annotation and online discussions in several courses, browns faculty made extensive use of FRESS, for example the philosopher Roderick Chisholm used it to produce several of his books. Thus in the Preface to Person and Object he writes The book would not have been completed without the epoch-making File Retrieval, despite the extensive earlier history, several publications report Michael S. Hart as the inventor of the e-book

34.
Dragon Con
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Dragon Con is a North America multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place once each year in Atlanta, Georgia. It is operated by a private corporation, with the help of a 1. Dragon Con has hosted the 1990 Origins Game Fair and the 1995 North American Science Fiction Convention, Dragon Con was launched in 1987, as a project of a local science fiction and gaming group, the Dragon Alliance of Gamers and Role-Players. It was founded by a board of directors including John Bunnell, David Cody, Robert Dennis, Mike Helba, Pat Henry, and Ed Kramer. The name Dragon for the club was derived from Kramers Dragon Computer, the inaugural Dragon*Con flyers debuted at the 1986 Atlanta Worldcon, ConFederation. Within a year, Dragon*Con had been selected to be the host of the 1990 Origins convention, thomas E. Fullers Atlanta Radio Theatre Company performed H. P. Lovecrafts Call of Cthulhu, which was broadcast via radio live from onsite. The 1988 convention included guests Alan Dean Foster, Fred Saberhagen, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Gary Gygax, in 1989, it drew 2,400 fans, and the event had moved to the Omni Hotel and Convention Center. In 1990, the convention had doubled again, added a Comics Expo, hosted the Origins convention, this time with Guest of Honor Tom Clancy, and expanded to include the Atlanta Sheraton hotel. In 1991 the first Robot Battles robotic competition event was added to the list of Dragon*Con events, in 1993, Dragon*Con was the home of the Wizard Fan Awards. By 1995, when Dragon*Con hosted the North American Science Fiction Convention, attendance had grown to over 14,000 fans, in 1999, Dragon*Cons TrekTrak introduced the first Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant, an annual event that has since garnered national media attention. Kramers relationship with the convention was ended in July 2013 in a merger, at which point the name of the convention. In 2002, Dragon*Con began hosting a parade through downtown Atlanta, which ran from Centennial Olympic Park to the Marriott Marquis, in 2005, Dragon*Con raised USD $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation. R. R. The Bloodhound Gang, Spocks Beard, and Mindless Self Indulgence, in 1998, Dragon Con established the Julie Award, in honor of Julius Schwartz, bestowed for universal achievement spanning multiple genres, selected each year by a panel of industry professionals. The inaugural recipient was science fiction and fantasy Grandmaster Ray Bradbury, the award process consists of a nomination step, where each voter can nominate one work of choice in every category, and a voting step where the nominated works are voted for to receive the award. The nominations and votes are collected electronically, participation is freely available to everyone, without any pay or requirement of membership. The finalist shortlist for the first edition of the awards was announced on August 11,2016, voting lasted until August 31,2016, with the winners announced on September 4. According to statistics provided by Georgia State University, Robinson College of Business, Dragon Con brought in over $21 million

35.
FASA
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In 2012, a wholly owned subsidiary called FASA Games Inc. went into operation, using the name and logo with permission of the parent company. FASA first appeared as a Traveller licensee, producing supplements for that Game Designers Workshop role-playing game, the company went on to establish itself as a major gaming company with the publication of the first licensed Star Trek RPG, then several successful original games. Noteworthy lines included BattleTech and Shadowrun, the highly successful BattleTech line led to a series of video games, some of the first virtual reality gaming suites, called Virtual World and a Saturday-morning animated TV series. Originally the name FASA was an acronym for Freedonian Aeronautics and Space Administration and this tongue-in-cheek attitude was carried over in humorous self-references in its games. For example, in Shadowrun, a nuclear device was detonated near FASAs offices at 1026 W. Van Buren St in Chicago. FASA Corporation was founded by Jordan Weisman and L. Ross Babcock III in 1980 with a capital of $350. The two were fellow gamers at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Mort Weisman, Jordans father, joined the company in 1985 to lead the companys operational management having sold his book publishing business, Swallow Press. Under the new direction and with Morts capital injection, the company diversified into books. After consulting their UK distributor, Chart Hobby Distributors, FASA licensed the manufacture of its BattleTech figurines to Miniature Figurines, FASA would later acquire the U. S. figures manufacturer Ral Partha, which was the US manufacturer of Minifigs. While Mort ran the paper and metal based sides of the business and they were particularly interested in virtual reality but also developed desktop computer games. When Microsoft acquired the FASA Interactive subsidiary, Babcock went with that company, after the sale of Virtual World, Jordan turned his attention to the founding of a new games venture called WizKids. FASA unexpectedly ceased active operations on April 30,2001, but still exists as a corporation holding intellectual property rights, contrary to popular belief, the company did not go bankrupt. Allegedly the owners decided to quit while the company was financially sound in a market they perceived as going downhill. Mort Weisman had been talking of retirement for years and his confidence in the future of the paper-based games business was low. He considered the property of FASA to be of high value. Unwilling to wrestle with the complexities of dividing up the going concern, the BattleTech and Shadowrun properties were sold to WizKids, who in turn licensed their publication to FanPro LLC and then to Catalyst Game Labs. The Earthdawn license was sold to WizKids, and then back to FASA, living Room Games published Earthdawn, RedBrick published Earthdawn, but the license has now returned to FASA Corporation, and FASA Games, Inc. is the current license holder for new material. Rights to the miniatures game VOR, The Maelstrom reverted to the designer Mike Skuzzy Nielsen, Microsoft officially closed the FASA team in the companys gaming division on September 12,2007

36.
BattleTech: The Animated Series
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BattleTech is an animated television series based on the BattleTech fictional universe, produced for syndication by Saban Entertainment in 1994. The series ran for 13 episodes and focused on the character of Adam Steiner, the series was noteworthy for its blending of animation techniques, with computer animation used to depict most battle sequences and traditional animation used for most other scenes. The series takes place in the year 3050 as the Inner Sphere, one of the many planets that falls to the Clan onslaught is a small, mostly unimportant world in the Federated Commonwealth called Somerset. Using his relationship to one of the Federated Commonwealths ruling family, he gains permission to assemble a force to gather intelligence on the Clans and, if possible, unfortunately for Steiner, the only available JumpShip is the Katana, a Draconis Combine spacecraft recently seized for smuggling. Steiner wins the duel, but the Clan commander, honouring the letter of the deal, gives Steiner the planet, the series ends with Steiner vowing to rescue the people of Somerset. In addition to being a skilled tactician and BattleMech pilot, he also flies aerospace fighters, after the Strikers mission to Somerset, Adam plays an influential role in the Lyran Alliance and is eventually promoted to General of the Armies. When Tharkad is besieged during the Word of Blake Jihad, Adam is temporarily crowned Archon of the Lyran Alliance in order to keep the position out of enemy hands, Adam pilots AXM-2N Axman and AWS-9M Awesome Mechs. Rachel Specter – Adams executive officer and close friend, rachel is an expert in electronics and communication and coordinates the Strikers actions in battle. Katiara Kylie – Also a native of Somerset, Katiara originally washed out of Adams training program, though not skilled with BattleMechs, shes a skilled aerospace fighter pilot. Katiara pilots a Banshee aerospace fighter and Infiltrator BattleArmor, Ciro Ramirez – Born to a minor but prestigious family of MechWarriors, Ciro is a skilled pilot whos very set in his ways. Ciro is captured by Clan forces early in the series, and eventually comes to accept their way of life, joining Clan Jade Falcon, Ciro pilots WLF-2 Wolfhound and Timber Wolf Mechs. Zachary Miles Hawk Hawkins – A veteran MechWarrior who works with FedCom intelligence, after capturing a Draconis Combine JumpShip for smuggling, he finds himself reassigned to it under Adams command. Initially distrustful not only of the Combine crewmen but also of his new commanding officer, he comes to respect Adams piloting. Hawk pilots an MAL-1R Mauler Mech, post-series, he is mentioned as having a WLF-1 Wolfhound Mech in storage. Valten Ryder – A scoundrel of a MechWarrior, Val is hired by the Strikers on the planet of Dustball, Val is very much out for himself, but is surprisingly loyal to his friends. Val pilots CN9-D Centurion and BSW-X1 Bushwhacker Mechs, the plot fails, and Franklin renounces his claim to the Draconis throne to rejoin the Strikers. After finishing his tour of duty, Franklin returns to the Combine where he is recognized by his father. During a revolt on the planet Luthien, Franklin is again captured by Black Dragon forces, Franklin pilots Sloth BattleArmor, as well as AWS-9M Awesome and HTM-27T Hatamoto-Chi Mechs

37.
Game Designers' Workshop
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Game Designers Workshop was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers, game Designers Workshop was originally established June 22,1973. The founding members consisted of Frank Chadwick, Rich Banner, Marc Miller, GDW acquired the Conflict Games Company from John Hill in the early 1970s. GDW published a new product approximately every twenty-two days for over twenty years, the company disbanded February 29,1996 after suffering financial troubles. 2300 AD - A hard science fiction roleplaying game, set 300 years after the Twilight War featured in Twilight,2000, first edition was titled Traveller,2300 Cadillacs and Dinosaurs - Based on the underground comic book Xenozoic Tales. Dangerous Journeys - Roleplaying game created by Gary Gygax, the co-creator of the original Dungeons & Dragons system, Traveller - A science fiction game originally intended as a ruleset for generic space adventures. Twilight 2000 - An alternate history set in a Europe devastated by nuclear war, with adventures and supplements also dealing with the U. S. Fire & Steel Harpoon, later developed into a computer game Johnny Reb Striker, another Traveller based game. Command Decision Combined Arms TacForce Over the Top Star Cruiser a 2300AD based game Sky Galleons of Mars Soldiers Companion The Grenadier was the magazine from 1978 to 1990. It started off as a magazine, but towards the end was published sporadically. Although it covered games from all companies, it gave most of the space to GDW games. Journal of the Travellers Aid Society was a dedicated to Traveller published by GDW between 1979 and 1985. Challenge was a game magazine that replaced Journal of the Travellers Aid Society. It covered all of GDWs role playing games, not just Traveller and it was published between 1986 and 1996

38.
Bantam Books
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Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B, kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine. It began as a mass market publisher, mostly of reprints of hardcover books and it expanded into both trade paperback and hardcover books, including original works, often reprinted in house as mass-market editions. The company was failing when Oscar Dystel, who had worked at Esquire. By the end of the year the company was profitable. Dystel retired as chairman in 1980, by that time Bantam was the largest publisher of paperbacks, had over 15% of the market, and exceeded US$100 million in sales. Bantam also published a volumes of short story adaptations of scripts from Star Trek. Bantam is the American paperback publisher of The Guinness Book of Records, another series was Bantam War Book from the 1970s to the 90s, with the majority of books from World War II, but also from Vietnam, Korea and other conflicts. Other series include Bantam Classics Series, the Bantam Spectra science fiction imprint, the juvenile Skylark imprint, authors originally published exclusively or significantly by Bantam include, Spock Must Die

39.
Dark Horse Comics
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Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book and manga publisher. It was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, Richardson started out by opening his first comic book store, Pegasus Books, in Bend, Oregon, in 1980. From there he was able to use the funds from his operation to start his own publishing company. Frank Millers Sin City is one of the most famous associated with Dark Horse. Today, the arm of the company flourishes despite no longer having its own universe of superpowered characters. Dark Horse also published the English translation of The Legend of Zelda, like Dell and Gold Key, Dark Horse was one of the few major American publishers of comic books never to display the Comics Code Authority seal on its covers. From 1993 to 1996, Dark Horse published a line of comics under the Comics Greatest World imprint. Legend was a book imprint at Dark Horse Comics created in 1994 by Frank Miller. Its logo was a moai drawn by Mike Mignola, later on, other creators were asked to join them. Art Adams Frank Miller John Byrne Mike Mignola Paul Chadwick, Dave Gibbons, Mike Allred Walter Simonson Dark Horse Manga is an imprint for Japanese manga. by Kōsuke Fujishima. Dark Horse also publishes a number of CLAMP titles, including Clover, Chobits, Okimono Kimono, Cardcaptor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth, a manga magazine titled Super Manga Blast. was published by Dark Horse starting in the spring of 2000. It was discontinued in December 2005 after 59 issues, Dark Horse also publish a number of Korean manhwa titles, including Banya, The Explosive Delivery Man. Maverick was an imprint for creator owned material, the DH Press imprint publishes novelizations of Dark Horses more popular comic book titles, including Aliens and Predator. DH Press has now been absorbed by DH Books, publications ranging from novels to film books by Leonard Maltin about John Landis, to comic related material such as a biography of Will Eisner, to health books. They have also published a series reprinting Playboy interviews, the M Press imprint was created to publish a diverse list of both literary fiction and non-fiction prose for authors with a unique voice. One such series is Orchid by Tom Morello, published from 2011–2013, the newest addition to M Press is an original graphic novel The Fifth Beatle by Vivek Tiwary, Andrew Robinson, and Kyle Baker, published on November 2013. In 2011, Dark Horse launched their iOS app and online comics store. Any device with a web browser can be used to read Dark Horse comics at their web store

Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It …

George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, the director of A New Hope and the prequel trilogy, and the script supervisor of both the original and prequel trilogies. His work in the original film earned him Academy Award nominations, for best director, screenplay and film. In 2014, Lucas ceased creative involvement with the franchise.

The main cast members of the original Star Wars trilogy, who reprised their characters in supporting roles on the sequel trilogy; from left: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford (SDCC, July 2015).

Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

John Williams composed the scores for the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

Scottsdale (O'odham: Vaṣai S-vaṣonĭ; Yaqui: Eskatel) is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, …

Downtown Scottsdale Waterfront

First schoolhouse in Scottsdale

Jokake Inn, Scottsdale

Scottsdale Spire, located in the southeast corner of Bell and Scottsdale Avenues in Scottsdale, was an Arizona State Capital Project designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Its construction began in 1957, but due to Wright's death, it was not until 2007 that it was adopted and finished by the Taliesin Associated Architects.